Of Serums and Siblings
by ArtisticAuthor
Summary: It's the middle of the night in Camp Lehigh and Doctor Abraham Erskine is about to have a visit from, arguably, the most unexpected source he could possibly imagine.


**Authors Note:**Alright, first things first, Anna is my own, original character who, I hope, won't appear to be a Mary Sue. Any feedback is greatly appreciated as long as it is constructive. I'm strongly considering writing Anna's story completely, multi-chaptered and from the beginning to the end, but as I am busy with other stuff (school, drawing, more school) I am uncertain as to whether this will become a reality.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own anything from Marvel, I can dream though.

It was almost midnight when Dr. Abraham Erskine was drawn from his science induced slumber. He snorted and coughed in surprise at the three sharp knocks on the metal door, head shooting up from his cluttered desk. Blearily, he gazed around his assigned quarters in Camp Lehigh, a good portion of his mind still awash in a sea of sleepy theories and formulas.

A few seconds passed. Erskine sat still, waiting, with no sound breaking the echoing silence. The Germen doctor was just about to pack up and head for his actual bed, when the pervasive sound rang through the room again. Three metallic clangs on the door, each ringing through the dusty room, bouncing around the worn, wooden beams supporting the roof. The scientist furrowed his brow, stealing a glance at his watch, he noted that it was just past 12 o'clock. His eyes flashed back up to the door, his rapidly clearing mind straining to work out who exactly was paying such a late visit. Colonel Phillips perhaps, or possibly Miss Carter. The exact reason, however, remained a mystery.

Confused, the aging man stood, wincing as the steel legs of his uncomfortable desk chair scraped across the floor, and headed for the door. He stumbled as his lab coat caught on a stack of paperwork, piled messily on the floor, causing the sheets to fall over sideways, spreading out across the ground in a solid, white tide. The man mumbled a string of colourful curses in Germen, snatching up a couple of loose pages where they had fallen around his feet. Another round of knocks on the door brought his attention back to the matter at hand and he quickly abandoned the papers in favour of, finally, answering the door.

"Coming, coming" he called.

He reached for the handle and pulled the heavy door open halfway, the rusted hinges groaning in protest. The chill night air immediately caused him to shudder and draw his lab coat tighter around himself. At first, he thought there was no one there, then he looked a little further down.

"Steven? Vhy are you here right now? It's zhe middle of zhe night."

The scrawny blonde winced slightly, shifting his hands at his sides.

"Sorry, Sir, I just, uh, I needed to speak with you, before we head to Brooklyn"

The young man shifted nervously, breath rasping in the chill night air.

"Surely zhis can wait till zhe morning Rogers", Erskine lowered his voice slightly and peered over his glasses at the tiny soldier, "you vill be in a lot of trouble if you are caught outside of your bunk."

Steve shifted again, a guilty expression passing over his face, but it quickly morphed into a look of stubborn determination. He looked up directly into the scientists eyes.

"I know Sir, and I'm sorry for doing this, but this is important."

Erskine paused, observing the frail man before him, frail in body but most definitely not in spirit. Despite the ungodly hour, he couldn't stop his lips from twitching upwards in a small smile at Steven's determination.

"Well, alvight, but you better hurry, I don't want to get in trouble either, when Herr Phillips starts a lecture it is very hard to stop him."

Steve barked out a hoarse laugh, before following the older man inside, but not before throwing a look over his shoulder.

"Sorry about zhe mess."

Erskine narrowed his eyes at the newly lain carpet of paper, groaning inwardly at the idea of sorting it all. Steve regarded it with a slightly guilty look.

"Sorry, for waking you I mean."

The Germen turned to the younger American. Erskine would be leaving late tomorrow for Brooklyn, to make preparations for Project Rebirth. Steve would be following the next day as the subject. The scientist once again peered over his glasses intently.

"If you're having second thoughts about zhe procedure…"

He was quickly cut off.

"No, Sir, no way, I'm going through with it."

Steve's eyes blazed and Erskine couldn't stop the proud smile that blossomed across his face. Such spirit for such a small man.

"Well then, I am quite relieved, at this point I wouldn't be able to pull you out, preparations are already underway."

Steve nodded, eyes still bright and resolute. Erskine smiled back and clasped the smaller man's bony shoulder in way of reassurance.

"You're very brave Steven, and zhat is good, you vill be needing it, I think, in the future".

"Thank you, Sir."

The Germen released his shoulder and walked back to his desk, muttering as he awkwardly tried to avoid the scattered papers. Reaching it, he turned and leaned back against it, sighing and lifting his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose and eyes.

"Alvight Steven, vhat was it you needed?"

Steve started, as though he had just remembered what it was exactly he had come here for.

"Right, I have someone I need you to meet".

Erskine's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Somevone? Vell I don't see vhy it couldn't wait but, ve're here now so, vhere is zhis, somevone?"

Steve shifted his feet in his too large boots and looked to the floor for a brief moment. Erskine took the opportunity to examine the boy. He looked exactly as he had left him that afternoon. A little bruised and beaten from training, utterly exhausted and with a shaky rasp to his breathing where his asthma was playing up. Honestly he was surprised the blonde hadn't keeled over yet.

Steve looked up, a nervous, almost scared, look on his face.

"It's, um, a bit complicated, you see the person I want to introduce you to is, a bit different from what you would expect."

Erskine arched an eyebrow in question.

"Her name's Annamarie, she's waiting outside."

The scientist narrowed his eyes minutely in thought. He had to admit he was surprised it was a woman Steve wanted him to meet. The only women he knew of on the base were Miss Carter and a couple of nurses, though he rarely saw them.

"Well don't leave her out in zhe cold, bring her inside so I can properly meet her."

To his surprise, Steve didn't move. He bit his lip, eyes darting back down to the floor, then back up to meet his eyes.

"Just, before I let her in I need you to promise me something" he blurted, tension riding in his thin shoulders.

Erskine's brow furrowed deeper, the obvious nervousness in the small blonde was beginning to pass on to him. He could feel a knot of discomfort slowly settling in his stomach.

"Vhat is wrong Steven? You're beginning to make me nervous" he gave a small chuckle as he spoke, trying to lighten the mood, but Steve remained serious.

"Please Sir" his voice was strained.

"Alvight, vhat is it you vant?"

Steve raised his head and looked the Germen man straight in the eye.

"Promise that no matter what you see, you will never tell anyone."

A couple of seconds passed in tense silence, neither of them breaking eye contact. Steve's gaze remained fiercely serious. Never looking away, the doctor bowed his head slightly.

"I promise" he said in an unwavering voice.

The tension visibly dropped from the blondes scrawny shoulders, although not entirely. He regarded the scientist warily for another moment.

"Thank you Sir" he said, slightly breathless with relief.

"No sir, just Abraham to you" Erskine's lips twitched back up into a small, reassuring smile.

Steve paused for a second, before nodding and turning for the door. He had only just reached for the handle when he stopped. Turning to look over his shoulder, he kept his eyes firmly aimed at a spot on the floor.

"Um, also, please don't… freak out or anything."

Erskine didn't have time to ponder this as Steve had quickly opened the door, as though he feared if he stalled any further he wouldn't have the guts to do it. A cool breeze billowed into the room, stirring sheets of paper and brushing through the eaves. The scientist straightened up from his position leant against the desk, checking himself over hastily to ensure he was presentable. He could vaguely hear Steve whispering something, presumably to this 'Annamarie', before retreating back inside. He carefully stepped out of the way, over to the left side of the room. Erskine turned to look back at the open door before him, just as a figure stepped into the light. She was young, if he had to hazard a guess he would have said she was around the same age as Steve, early to mid 20's. She wasn't tall, around the average height, possibly a little shorter than Agent Carter.

Annamarie glanced around the room wearily, her sharp features causing dark shadows to cast across her face. Her dark eyes flashed shockingly with vibrant golds and oranges in the yellow light of his standard issue lamp. She was dressed rather modestly, in what looked to be a stolen recruit uniform. It was slightly too large for her, and bagged under her arms and legs. The belt was done up to its second last hole. She paused for a moment around half way through the door and shifted her shoulders, two large, dark shadows either side of her head shifted with them. Passing through the doorway, it became all too clear to the scientist why Steve, and Annamarie, were so nervous.

Erskine's mouth parted slightly, eyes widening in utter, stupefied shock.

Wings. Huge, grey-white, feathered wings were folded against the woman's back. They were so large that, even folded away, the limbs arched high over her shoulders, blatantly prominent to anyone looking. The primary feathers were so long that they dragged across the floor behind her, rustling up the scattered paper in her wake.

Annamarie stopped around halfway between the scientist and the door, body tensed and feathers fluffed. A dull 'thump' echoed hollowly through the room as Steve shut the door behind her. The curtains had all been drawn across the windows already.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They all stared at each other. Erskine at Annamarie. Annamarie at Erskine. Steve watched both of them, waiting. Finally, the silence was broken. Steve cleared his throat.

"Doctor Erskine, this is Anna, my sister."

The Germen almost choked on his own tongue.

"S-sister?" he croaked out, the question was broken and practically whispered.

"That's right, Sir" Annamarie spoke for the first time, nodding respectfully to the scientist, wings shifting slightly with the movement.

"Mein Gott."

Both Steve and Anna shifted awkwardly, the latter's feathers ruffling up.

"Mein Gott, mein Gott."

Erskine continued to mumble the same words like a mantra, hazily stumbling back against his desk and proceeding to lean heavily against it. His own legs felt as though they were about to give out on him. Despite his brain telling him to look at the situation logically, he couldn't bring himself to stop staring.

Everything about the wings were perfect. Every twitch of strong muscles, every tremble in each feather. They were real, living flesh and bone, sprouting from her back, attached to the shoulder blades. An angel. A real, living angel was standing in his office.

Erskine looked shakily over to Steve, who was watching him intently. His bright blue eyes were worried but at the same time, seemed to convey a warning. As though he were trying to caution him on how he reacted.

"If it helps, Sir, I'm adopted" Anna said suddenly in a completely serious voice.

Erskine gaped at her. Then, for reasons even he couldn't fully explain, he began to laugh. Immediately, the shock of the whole situation seemed to flee him and a multitude of questions flooded his curious mind. He didn't stop laughing, however, for several long seconds.

"I-I'm sorry, sorry, it seems I'm j-just so shocked that I cannot stop myself" he choked out between more waves of laughter.

To his surprise, the winged woman began to giggle along with him.

"I suppose I am a rather strange thing to see, especially in the middle of the night" she said, grinning.

Her light, relieved laughter caused the messy, white-blonde hair framing her face to bounce and her eyes to light like lanterns. Steve's laughter soon joined them and before long they were all giggling in the strange humour the shock and nerves had left behind.

Finally, the scientist took a couple of deep, steadying breathes (while Steve gave a couple of harsh coughs) and focused entirely on the matter at hand.

"Mein Gott" he murmured again.

He took a hesitant step forward. Anna remained where she stood, smiling softly at the older man. Steve quickly padded over to join them.

"Now you know why I had to come here so late" he said a little guiltily.

"Yes, yes I do Steven, and I don't blame you."

Erskine was now scrutinizing the woman, and in particular the wings, openly, trying to commit every detail to memory. Noticing this Anna smiled.

"I can, uh, open 'em up if you wanted a better look."

The scientist started at the offer but didn't miss his chance.

"Yes", he blurted hastily, wincing a little at the note of desperation in his voice, "please, I vould be most appreciative of a more, in-depth look."

Anna's smile stretched into a small grin and, with a smooth sound of feathers shifting over each other, unfurled her wings out. The room was so small that she couldn't stretch them out to their full extent, much to his disappointment, she got them just over halfway before the colossal primaries brushed against the walls. He dimly heard Steve muttering beside him.

"Show off."

Erskine took a couple, long moments to marvel at them. They were just like the wings of a bird, much larger, of course, and on a human body, but there was no mistaking the soft, feathered limbs as those of a birds. If he was correct, he would assume that the wing shape and structure resembled that of a common pigeon or dove, with its relatively short, rounded shape, meaning she was quick and manoeuvrable in the air.

This thought caused another question to explode in his mind. A very important one.

"Can you… fly?"

Anna shot him an almost sly smile and nodded.

It took him a moment to truly comprehend that.

"Incredible, utterly incredible" he shook his head in wonderment.

The good doctor's hands began to itch with the urge to touch. To feel and explore the massive wings. Trace the curvatures of the feathers, the contours of the muscles, the softness of the down. Anna must have caught on to his thoughts because her smile twitched higher and she skilfully moved her left wing, angling the limb so that it extended towards him. Erskine's breath hitched as two long primaries brushed the floor less than a metre from his feet.

"You can touch them if you want" Anna's voice was gentle and consenting.

Erskine froze for a couple of seconds, arms half raised and eyes wide. Hesitantly, he reached a hand towards the colossal wing that was currently slightly curled around him. He watched in a sleepy daze as his hand drew closer to the feathers, now that they were so close he could properly take in the details. The undersides, which were turned to him, were predominately a creamy white, tapering to a light, dusky grey at the edges. While he was yet to fully see the upper sides, he strongly suspected that they were darker, possibly with more colouration, than the bottoms. His aged, calloused fingers brushed the fringe of the nearest feather. Delicately, he traced the soft edge, afraid that if he was too rough he would damage it. Dimly, he heard the young woman laugh before her voice disrupted his reverent train of thought.

"You don't have to be so careful, they're a lot tougher than you'd think."

He jumped in shock as the wing suddenly moved even closer towards him, butting his shoulder gently and causing the feathers to close even further around him. Erskine nodded faintly, eyes barely straying from the wing that was all but smothering him, almost his entire left side now being blocked by a living curtain of feathers. Steve gave his sister a pointed look at this, but the Germen scientist was almost beside himself with curious excitement. Gently, but with a lot less delicacy than before, he began to scrutinize the wing with more depth. Lifting feathers and ghosting professional digits over the long, durable shafts. Softly murmuring a continuous slew of biological observations, he inspected the upper curve of the limb, running his hand down the limb so that the feathers weren't pushed up in the wrong direction. The feathers here were smaller, more for coverage and retaining warmth. The colouration had changed also, with the feathers now a darker grey with an almost silver sheen and a spattering of charcoal speckles. He suspected that this continued over the tops of the wings. Beneath the sliver-grey feathers he could feel firm, sinewy muscles.

The tense atmosphere of the room was rapidly dissipating, replacing itself with a comfortable wariness. Erskine's curiosity was rapidly growing and, as he continued his examination, he couldn't restrain himself from firing questions at the two apparent siblings.

"Have you always been like zhis?"

"Yep."

"So you vere born with zhem yes?"

"As far as we know."

"When you're… in the air, can you move fast? Or is movement cumbersome and slow?"

"She can fly very fast, faster than any car in Brooklyn."

"Amazing, and vhat about manoeuvring? Is zhat just as swift?"

"Oh yeah, I can turn real quick and tight, don't even have to slow down most of the time, and if I roll into a spin I can take 'em even faster, though it does make you dizzy".

As the eager questioning continued, Steve could see his sister growing more and more comfortable. Her feathers began to ruffle and puff out proudly. As she continued, however, he could hear an unflattering boastfulness enter her replies and he knew it was time to step in. Clearing his throat, the blonde stepped closer to his slightly taller sibling, which quickly brought their attention to him.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt your whole session but, we really can't stay for long" he shot Anna a pointed look.

The woman looked down, an embarrassed look on her face.

"Sorry, got a little carried away there" she gave a lopsided grin and rubbed at the back of her head.

"Oh, I vas just as careless, my apologies" Erskine hastily added.

Glancing again at his watch, he made a small noise of surprise when he realised almost half an hour had passed since Steve had first knocked on his door.

"It's fine Sir- uh, Abraham, but we really can't get caught, especially her" he gestured towards the woman beside him who huffed in reply "and hanging around here is kind of risky". Steve was already trying to herd his sister towards the door.

"Well aren't you in a sour mood Stevie, come on, cheer up, this meeting didn't go half as bad as you thought it would" she said, ruffling up his hair with a grin.

As she teased her shorter brother (who was determinedly ignoring it), she folded her wings back up. Her left one she simply pulled pack to its original, folded position. The second, however, she moved forward, twisting the limb, and subsequently the long, soft feathers so that they curled around Steve and pulled him closer to her. It seemed that he was the one being herded now. Steve's only response was to give the intruding wing a shove away from him and to shoot a glare at his mischievous sibling. Anna poked her tongue out at him, swiftly angling her wing so that a couple of her outer primaries brushed against his neck. Steve yelped in surprise and ducked his head to block the offending feathers, his cheeks quickly turned scarlet in embarrassment as both she and Erskine laughed at the noise.

"Jerk" he grumbled.

"Idiot" she huffed back, no real venom evident in her words.

"Now, now children" Erskine smiled.

Anna shot a half-hearted glare at the scientist for that quip.

"Well, it looks like zhere is a lot more to you zhan I first thought, Steven" the man's eyes twinkled warmly behind his glasses and Steve smiled back.

"But, not zhat I'm complaining, zhat does not answer zhe question of vhy you are here."

Anna quickly turned serious, pulling her wing back to join the other. Steve's face had likewise taken on a tense expression, like he had just swallowed something too big.

"Actually, we were hoping you could help us with something" Anna's voice had lost its lively tone.

"Other than the fact that I thought you should know about my sister" Steve shifted again, "I was wondering if… could you get her into the procedure with me?"

Erskine gaped at him.

"Vhat? I'm very sorry but ve don't have nearly enough serum for both of you, and…"

"No, no" Anna cut him off, wings flaring slightly.

"Sorry but I don't want to be part of this, whatever this thing is, I just want to be there when he undergoes the procedure, you know, moral support and stuff."

The Germen's eyebrows rose in understanding.

"I'm not entirely sure, I mean to begin vith it vould be extremely difficult to hide your vings, as I'm sure you don't vant others knowing about zhem, and…" his words tapered off as another small, sly smile appeared on Anna's face.

Leaning forwards slightly, she gripped the front material of her too big uniform. Steve stepped away from her as her wings flared, the feathers rustling upwards before lying flat again in a matter of seconds. Then, soft cracking noises reached his ears. Before his eyes, the wings began to shrink, slowly at first, but then faster, the feathers shuddered and began to shorten. Within the span of around 10 seconds the huge wings had disappeared completely, shrinking away into nothing, leaving a normal, blonde-haired woman behind. Anna straightened up, releasing her shirt and rolling her now very much wingless shoulders, face contorting in discomfort. The familiar smile soon replaced it though and she raised her gaze to meet the transfixed scientist's.

"I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve."

"How did… I mean zhat is impossible, how could you have… are zhey really, gone?"

"Yep" her large eyes glittered in amusement, "don't worry though, I can bring 'em back whenever I want."

Erskine forced himself to close his mouth and think logically.

"Wow" he murmured, "Is zhat how you've been visiting Steven, if so than I haven't seen you around before."

"Actually, she has another trick for that" Steve piped up, a small grin working over his face.

Erskine shot a very amusing look of exasperated shock at the smaller man.

"Zhere is only so much stress my heart can take."

The now wingless woman snorted.

"Don't worry, this one's much more small scale" she grinned in a way that suggested it definitely wasn't.

Erskine held his breath as Anna knelt on her knees, curling into herself on the rough floor before, once again, beginning to transform. This time her whole body shrank, slow at first then faster, just as it was with the wings. As it progressed, feathers began to sprout all over her form, across her face, down her neck and over her hands. The last of the transformation was obscured by the rapidly growing pile of clothes, which the woman was now completely buried in. A couple of tense, silent seconds passed, before a lump in the pile stirred. From the neck hole of the shirt, a small, white feathered dove appeared. If Erskine had been stunned before it was nothing to this, his mouth fell completely open, whole body frozen as he watched what he assumed was now Anna. He stood by what he had said before, his heart could only take so much. The little dove turned its head to peer at him, if a bird could look amused this one certainly did. The man started from his flabbergasted staring as the bird leapt into the air, flapping its dusky wings (which seemed identical to her larger scale ones) and flying to perch on Steve's shoulder. Steve was watching him carefully but looked as though he were trying really hard not to laugh.

"Anna isn't with me in person exactly, more just keeping an eye on me from a distance" he explained as he moved to gather up the discarded uniform, the dove on his shoulder flaring out her wings to stay balanced. She released a couple of disgruntled sounding coos.

"So I can see" Erskine replied faintly.

The doctor began to hum under his breath, truthfully not knowing what else to do. It was all so surreal, even to his academic mind.

"So, do you just, sit in zhe trees and…" he trailed off towards the end, realising at that point that he was talking to a bird.

Anna bobbed her head in affirmation, walking sideways to press her small, fluffy body against her brother's neck, attempting to lend him warmth. Erskine smiled as he observed this, laughter bubbling in his chest when Steve softly swatted at her after she pecked his neck a couple of times.

"Good thing about this form is that she can't talk" Steve grinned cheekily.

Anna's feathers puffed up angrily and she released a shrill cry before launching herself off his shoulder, flying to perch on a more favourable host, the only other available being Erskine himself. The aged scientist jumped in surprise but quickly relaxed and smiled towards his new feathery friend. Anna pecked softly at the older man's stubble in thanks.

"Vell it's a pleasure to meet you too" he said, "as for your request, I vill see vhat I can do about it."

"Thank you Sir, we'll make it up to you I promise" Steve rushed in relief.

"You alveady have" he said, waving him away, "now I think you should get back to your bunk, I do not know vhat vill happen if you are caught."

"Thank you, Abraham" Steve said, Anna took the opportunity to transfer shoulders once more back to her brothers.

"As for you, Miss Annamarie, keep yourself safe and out of sight, I vould not like to think about vhat might happen if you meet somevone that is less understanding than me" he watched her pointedly and she ducked her head in understanding.

"Also, keep an eye on zhis one, he tends to bite off a bit more zhan he can chew."

Steve tried to look indignant while Anna cooed and bobbed her head as if to say 'don't I know it'.

The scrawny blonde groaned, rubbing at his head in exasperation, before turning for the door.

"Just vone more question, if I may?"

"Yes?" Steve replied, turning back to face the scientist.

"Vhy tell me? Vhy reveal your secret? You could easily have introduced yourself in your, more human form."

The woman turned bird tilted her head at him, regarding the Germen before pecking a couple times at Steve's neck.

"I trust you" Steve answered for her, "we trust you."

Erskine didn't have a reply to that.

"And I figured, since I'm most likely going to be working close with you in the future, you'd have to know sooner or later" Steve continued.

Erskine nodded.

"Fair points, thank you Steven, I vill be seeing you, both of you hopefully, in Brooklyn tomorrow, seeing as it's technically morning now" he lifted his glasses to rub again at his temples.

Steve ducked his head guiltily at that. Turning and opening the door he paused as the chilling wind filled his sore lungs. Glancing back over the shoulder not currently holding his sister, he cast one last relieved look back at the Germen

"Thank you, Abraham."

With that, the two disappeared into the cool night, the door closed with a final thud a couple of seconds later and he was left alone once more in the small room. Huffing slightly in disbelief, he made his way back to the desk, the scattered papers now completely forgotten. Erskine collapsed into the hard metal chair. The room was a mess and, in less than 5 hours the sun would be rising, but he was too exhausted to truly care. His mind was too full anyway, full of the sound of laughter and the soft ghosting of feathers across his fingertips.


End file.
